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Chicken Marsala

Where has the time gone? More specifically, where did my birthday week go!? Unfortunately, my birthday fell almost exactly in the middle of the busiest week of the semester, and probably the year, to date. It was crazy. Partially thanks to snow storms, but mostly thanks to homework, I spent two weekends doing homework. With one crazy week in between. Oh, and did I mention that most of my actual birthday was spent giving and grading a precalculus exam? Thanks to BLR, however, we did have cupcakes for our grading party! It was actually a pretty good time -- as good as grading can be, I guess.

Then NES and I went to dinner. So at least I had that to look forward to.

He also made me pancakes for breakfast in bed. He's pretty awesome.

And we spent the weekend with family and friends. Amongst the homework, at least! It was fun, though. And a very sweater-ified birthday!

This week has been slightly less crazy. I'm still working on making up a few things that got pushed to the background during the crazy week, but I'm getting there. Slowly but surely I'm getting there.

AB came for dinner on Tuesday night, and I made crockpot chicken marsala . . . for the second time. I made it sometime earlier this month, and that's when I took the pictures. I'm a little behind. Oops. And apparently both times I forgot to take pictures before we ate it. It smells that good.

However, I first started making this when I had marsala wine to use up from the cupcakes I made for New Year's eve. That's actually the only reason I've ever made chicken marsala. Until now. I think this crockpot version is a keeper.

The only problem with it is that it only cooks for 5-6 hours. So, when I go to school at 8:30 and don't get home till 5 or so, that's a problem. I've been getting around this by a.) asking my wonderful husband to turn it down when he gets home from work and b.) starting with frozen chicken and cooking it on low for an extra hour or two and then on warm for a couple more hours. It comes out a little dry, but not too bad.

The other thing I really need to figure out is how to get the sauce to thicken. The first time, I think I halved most of the recipe and forgot to half the cornstarch and water mixture. By the time I was serving out the leftovers, it was nice and thick. This time, it didn't thicken much. I need to play with that.

However, it's gotten good reviews. So, even after all that, I think it's worth it.

Spray a 2-4 quart crockpot with cooking spray. Place olive oil and garlic in the crockpot, and add the chicken. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Pour mushrooms over the chicken. Pour wine over all ingredients.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours (7-8 if chicken is frozen).

Remove the chicken from the crockpot and cover to keep warm. Mix the water and cornstarch well, and add to the liquid in the crockpot. Turn to high, and cook for 10-20 minutes, or however long it takes the sauce to thicken.

Add the chicken back to the crockpot and cook for 5 minutes, or until reheated.

I love to bake. And make cupcakes. And take pictures. I like cooking, too.
But I'm in grad school, and math is my life. I am also a new wife. NES is my new co-conspirator, at least for cooking! And I have someone to bake for! We also finally have our own real kitchen! I cook and bake when I can. I thought that time was tight in college, but I'm learning there are different definitions of lack of time. Thyme is my favorite herb, though. So it all evens out?